3 quotes by Patrick Webb that pretty much sum up the year:

[herky01]

If the most talented front four in the history of the program is struggling to generate pressure as opponents have successfully schemed against them, the staff will have to (be) more willing to adjust their own scheme and looks

But what I want to see is some of the other defenses when the one look isn't working. The lack of scheming that went on to give the front four this season was absolutely stunning.

It is the staff's responsibility to put players in winning positions-that is their only job during the games. They failed 6 times this season. They were bailed out once. They must learn to coach with a killer instinct and that is not a new problem

 

[jparmley3]

If the most talented front four in the history of the program is struggling to generate pressure as opponents have successfully schemed against them, the staff will have to (be) more willing to adjust their own scheme and looks

But what I want to see is some of the other defenses when the one look isn't working. The lack of scheming that went on to give the front four this season was absolutely stunning.

It is the staff's responsibility to put players in winning positions-that is their only job during the games. They failed 6 times this season. They were bailed out once. They must learn to coach with a killer instinct and that is not a new problem

a) 2007 or 2004 were better and I said as much in the preseason.
b) You will have to go back to pre-Norm Parker to find that
c) Coaches take the responsibility for the loss; players have to execute to win. Coaches can tell them what to do, but if the performance is lacking from the players....then you have to begin to question the talent level.

As a coach, there is only so much you can do.
- Kirk Ferentz did not fumble last week on the final drive against Minny
- Kirk Ferentz did not give up 4 consecutive sacks against Arizona
- Kirk Ferentz did not give up a sack against tOSU on the final drive to make it 4th and 21
- Kirk Ferentz did not give up a TD after 11 plays and 91 yards vs. NW (They would have scored even if we put fresh bodies in after a couple of plays)

BUT, I will put the Wisconsin loss on the coaching staff. The botched spiking of the ball, or lack thereof, cost us a better opportunity to win the game.

Before you begin to throw rocks at a glass house, realize that it may already be broken.

 

[BALDIES7980]

If the most talented front four in the history of the program is struggling to generate pressure as opponents have successfully schemed against them, the staff will have to (be) more willing to adjust their own scheme and looks

But what I want to see is some of the other defenses when the one look isn't working. The lack of scheming that went on to give the front four this season was absolutely stunning.

It is the staff's responsibility to put players in winning positions-that is their only job during the games. They failed 6 times this season. They were bailed out once. They must learn to coach with a killer instinct and that is not a new problem

Exactly what I started saying almost 3 years ago.
Iowa has good coaches that can teach a kid to use what he has to be the best if they want to. But they do not always put their players in the best position to win.
When they can get past the fear of losing by being "risky" and give their players every break they can. We will see how great this program can be.

 

[Ozhawk]

- Kirk Ferentz did not fumble last week on the final drive against Minny

Playing minny it shouldn't matter fumbling on the last drive..game should have been out of hand by then

- Kirk Ferentz did not give up 4 consecutive sacks against Arizona

again shouln't have been in that situation to be forced to pass 4 times in a row.

- Kirk Ferentz did not give up a sack against tOSU on the final drive to make it 4th and 21

No but his defensive scheme allowed for a 4 and 11 conversion that basically ended the game.

- Kirk Ferentz did not give up a TD after 11 plays and 91 yards vs. NW

It was Northwestern. Giving up a 91 yard drive shouldn't have mattered the game should not have been close..again it was a scheme thing.

 

[jparmley3]

No but his defensive scheme allowed for a 4 and 11 conversion that basically ended the game.

Evidently, you are discounting the fact that the player who converted the 4th and 11 is one of the 10 best athletes in the college game.

90% of the QB's in America would not have been able to get the 11 yards.

Pryor is a QB who thinks about running while still looking to complete a pass. He is what they call a "dual threat" QB.

Given we are Iowa fans, we do not know what 'dual threat' means. So, I guess I understand your confusion.

Additionally, when it is 4th and 11, you are not going to play a 6-2 or 5-3. You are going to rush 3 or 4 guys and protect the deep out and the deep middle. You will give up a dump pass to a back or delay to a blocking TE.

Pryor had no other option but to run. Why? Because our defense was covering downfield VERY well and took away his throwing options/lanes.

Sorry, I am not going to buy your argument.

 

[nationalchamps]

Evidently, you are discounting the fact that the player who converted the 4th and 11 is one of the 10 best athletes in the college game.

90% of the QB's in America would not have been able to get the 11 yards.

Pryor is a QB who thinks about running while still looking to complete a pass. He is what they call a "dual threat" QB.

Given we are Iowa fans, we do not know what 'dual threat' means. So, I guess I understand your confusion.

Additionally, when it is 4th and 11, you are not going to play a 6-2 or 5-3. You are going to rush 3 or 4 guys and protect the deep out and the deep middle. You will give up a dump pass to a back or delay to a blocking TE.

Pryor had no other option but to run. Why? Because our defense was covering downfield VERY well and took away his throwing options/lanes.

Sorry, I am not going to buy your argument.

Don't you think the coaches should be aware of this as well and scheme for it?

 

[Ozhawk]

Evidently, you are discounting the fact that the player who converted the 4th and 11 is one of the 10 best athletes in the college game.

90% of the QB's in America would not have been able to get the 11 yards.

Pryor is a QB who thinks about running while still looking to complete a pass. He is what they call a "dual threat" QB.

Given we are Iowa fans, we do not know what 'dual threat' means. So, I guess I understand your confusion.

Yes you are so correct. Stupid of me to think Iowa should make any attempt to change their scheme for such an untouchable like pryor..
Having a hard time finding this top 10 dude on the heisman watch list. ESPN doesn't even have him in their top 12. You better write them a letter and tell them how they need to listen to you.

 

[jparmley3]

Don't you think the coaches should be aware of this as well and scheme for it?

OK, so Iowa puts a 'spy' on Pryor.

What does that do? It takes away from the coverage down field and may open up a throwing lane. And, Pryor was throwing the ball pretty well toward the end of the game.

Do you really think we are going to scheme for that when we have not schemed for anybody else in that last 12 years?

I guess I am the only one around here who watches the games

 

[jparmley3]

Yes you are so correct. Stupid of me to think Iowa should make any attempt to change their scheme for such an untouchable like pryor..
Having a hard time finding this top 10 dude on the heisman watch list. ESPN doesn't even have him in their top 12. You better write them a letter and tell them how they need to listen to you.

Darrius Heyward-Bay

Do you remember that name? He was not on ANY Heisman list. Not once. In fact, I do not even remember seeing any of his highlights on TV while he played for the Maryland Terrapins.

He ended up running a 4.28 forty at the NFL Combine and was drafted in the Top 10....

...on athleticism.

If you do not think Pryor is a top 10-15 pick in the NFL draft, you are nuts.

If Tebow was a first rounder, than TP is a lock in the first round.

Whether or not he is on a Heisman list, I doubt anyone in the know (at ESPN, Fox, CBS, or even the Food Network) would argue he is one of the best athletes in the nation.

If you want to make a wager on that NFL Draft prediction I made (barring a career ending injury), I am more than willing to accept.

Sorry for me to think the #1 recruit in the country coming out of HS is capable of breaking a defense down once in a while.

 

[LoewDog]

I have coached a lot of football over the years and the scheming thing has always been an area of frustration for me.

You have to look at what the other team does defensively and try to exploit their weaknesses. On the other side of the ball, you look at what they do and scheme to stop it. I'm not sure why we feel we do not need to do that...

I understand sometimes it does not work. Our base D should be the scheme that matches-up well with Wisky (has in the past). They just outplayed us. Our soft zone does not match-up well against a NW (has not in the past). Why not try a few new twists to stop that...what is the worst that could happen, we lose?

* Disclaimer...I put little blame on the D in the AZ, NW and OSU games though, we held them to 20 (KO Return and short field TD excluded), 20 and 21 points...O has to score enough to win those.

 

[tm3308]

The scheme does work MOST of the time. But it's like we have one of those balls with the holes in it, and a circle peg. MOST of the holes are circles, but there are a few square holes. And we continually try to jam that circle peg into those few square holes.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

Darrius Heyward-Bay

Do you remember that name? He was not on ANY Heisman list. Not once. In fact, I do not even remember seeing any of his highlights on TV while he played for the Maryland Terrapins.

He ended up running a 4.28 forty at the NFL Combine and was drafted in the Top 10....

...on athleticism.

If you do not think Pryor is a top 10-15 pick in the NFL draft, you are nuts.

If Tebow was a first rounder, than TP is a lock in the first round.

Whether or not he is on a Heisman list, I doubt anyone in the know (at ESPN, Fox, CBS, or even the Food Network) would argue he is one of the best athletes in the nation.

If you want to make a wager on that NFL Draft prediction I made (barring a career ending injury), I am more than willing to accept.

Sorry for me to think the #1 recruit in the country coming out of HS is capable of breaking a defense down once in a while.

Pryor is a top 10-15 NFL pick? Come on man. You can get a back up tight end in the 4th or 5th round. Tebow was a terrible first round pick by a coach who is in over his head running an NFL team. Look at all the success Vince Young, who was a much better NCAA player, is having. Teams are not going to be fighting with each other to get Pryor, there's a reason why he's coming back next season. There's just not an NFL demand for him.

 

[edr247]

a) 2007 or 2004 were better and I said as much in the preseason.
b) You will have to go back to pre-Norm Parker to find that
c) Coaches take the responsibility for the loss; players have to execute to win. Coaches can tell them what to do, but if the performance is lacking from the players....then you have to begin to question the talent level.

As a coach, there is only so much you can do.
- Kirk Ferentz did not fumble last week on the final drive against Minny
- Kirk Ferentz did not give up 4 consecutive sacks against Arizona
- Kirk Ferentz did not give up a sack against tOSU on the final drive to make it 4th and 21
- Kirk Ferentz did not give up a TD after 11 plays and 91 yards vs. NW (They would have scored even if we put fresh bodies in after a couple of plays)

BUT, I will put the Wisconsin loss on the coaching staff. The botched spiking of the ball, or lack thereof, cost us a better opportunity to win the game.

Before you begin to throw rocks at a glass house, realize that it may already be broken.

Execution is important, but in all those situations, you can point to the fact that the apparently failed schemes this year resulted in those plays that ended up losing us our games.

1) With our LB corp decimated by injury, we should have come up with ways to protect the middle of the field so that guys couldn't slip by our 4 man rush and run for 5-10 yards EVERY TIME. That happened against Wisconsin, Northwestern, tOSU and Minnesota. In all those cases, it wasn't just the players, it was the whole scheme that just wasn't working. It was a weakness that everybody knew existed, but the coaches seemed to do little to compensate for it.

2) With our holes on special teams and defense, this season was going to go as far as our offense was going to carry it. And while player execution was an issue on offense, there were plenty of times where fans were left scratching our heads at the offensive scheme.

If there's one glaring flaw with this Iowa team, it's that we are predictable. We know what works for us and that's all we do, and we put all our hopes for success on discipline and execution. Well, what happens when we aren't executing, or if there are injuries? Then it falls on the coaches to adapt and adjust so that we minimize our weaknesses and maximize our strengths. And while they do try to do that, sometimes it comes off that the Iowa coaches want more to stick with what worked before, even if it's not working now.

 

[Billso]

No but his defensive scheme allowed for a 4 and 11 conversion that basically ended the game.

Incorrect. We had, in fact, precisely the right scheme for that play, the downfield options were snuffed and Pryor still only beat it when Klug (I believe) stumbled and lost contain.

 

[DBAHawkFan]

Clayborn lost contain i believe. He shot up the field and Pryor ran for the first down in that gap.

 

[NewMexHawk]

Good point...what is the worst that could happen if we schemed differently? we lose? And that is what we are doing anyway...

 

[Bigtenchamp]

I beg to differ I think alot of QB's could have done the same thing - our defense was way down field - we had no threatening pass rush, and our defensive lineman were too slow and tired to have any chance of catching him unless he tripped over himself.

Also I don't know if you noticed on that play - but Hyde waited for Pryor to come to him -past the first down marker, instead of trying to take him out and win the game before he got to the first down marker - I saw alot of plays like that by our defense this year.